Knowledge, Information, Propaganda and Opinions

Thor Hammer Strike

Not too long ago I was talking to some people I know and the subject of COVID and vaccinations came up. A couple of the guys seemed to think that COVID was a real threat and the vaccinations were the proper defense. This was contrary to my view of the situation. What they were saying really grated on me and I felt myself getting angry. Something told me getting angry wasn't going to help, so I went off to the kitchen to get a drink.

Thought about this later and I realized that we all got our information from news media of some sort, the only difference was our choice of sources. The upshot is that we were both relying on what other people are telling us. Unless you are personally engaged in researching the biology and biochemistry and statistics of this plague that is all we can do.

This particular subject has become so politicized that it is virtually impossible to discern the truth. I gave up trying to get to the bottom of the matter a long time ago. All I feel comfortable with is gauging the amount of heat and smoke that any particular story gives off. From this I have constructed my view of the situation. Am I correct? I have no idea, but I am satisfied with my viewpoint. For the moment.

In the French TV series The Bonfire of Destiny, the villain is a high level politician who has no compunction about sending an innocent man to the guillotine in order to inflame the populace and ensure his victory in the upcoming election. Watching this guy and all his underhanded dealings (including treason) made me think of Joe Biden. A recent post by Matt Taibbi reinforced that view. Now I'm waiting for the indictments. There's going to be indictments, right? Right? There are going to indictments aren't there? Ha. As if.

I picked up Line of Sight by Mike Maden (Tom Clancy, Jack Ryan). Tom Clancy stories are always entertaining but this one isn't starting out so good. The opening incident with the thug is just fluff, but when we get to the home cooked meal with Jack's parents (the President and his wife) and it's like the author has slathered icing on a rotten corpse in order to make it appear appetizing. Is my bias showing yet?

But what am I going to do about it? In The Bonfire of Destiny, a couple of players finally stand up against the big bully and he slithers off stage. It would have been better if he had been executed, but he's vanished which is something. Those two players were part of his inner circle and so had some standing, not like you and me, out in the waste land howling at the moon.

That's what we need, we need people of good character to stand up in public against these self serving criminals. Theoretically, I could, but as a practical matter I'm not going to. My gut reaction when confronted with criminal behavior is to fly into a rage and crush the offender with Thor's hammer. Not appropriate if you want to avoid a civil war.

I wonder if there is something that happens to people when they spend a lot of time dealing with other people, in person that is, not at keyboard length. Does dealing with rotten people somehow infect good people? Or are they like me, so repelled by these criminal jackasses that they just retreat behind their front door and let the morons run wild?

Update October 2023 replaced 'populous' with 'populace'.